Tag: Nate Marquardt

Honor. Respect. Discipline. These are the keys to being a good sport. Whether your arm is raised in victory or your head is hung low in defeat, a good fighter maintains his decorum in every situation. Unless you’re a jerk.

Every major sport has an athlete with a temporary lapse in judgment that causes them to do something they will regret later, and MMA is no different. In this sport, two people are locked in a cage and expected to beat one another until the other can take no more, so it only makes sense that some of these would spill out into a second fight if not for a hefty security team. That brings us to the top ten post-fight brawls, where the action keeps going after the bell and turns into one giant debacle that ruins the rest of the night! Don’t take your mouthpiece out or unwrap your gloves just yet, we are just getting started!

The Pittsburgh card will also feature a welterweight meeting between Martin Kampmann and John Howard — the guy who Anthony Johnson called out after his win over Hardy. Kampmann will be trying to right the ship after two very disheartening decision losses to Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez. John Howard is also on a two-fight skid, coming off losses to Jake Ellenberger (via TKO) and Thiago Alves (via decision).

(Is that a thumbs-up, a hang loose or a 2-out-of-10? We already have a problem here, Ricardo. Pic: MMA Convert)

Suck on this, F. Scott Fitzgerald: Recently retired MMA veteran Ricardo Almeida has apparently wasted little time starting the second act of his fighting life, as Pro MMA Radio’s Larry Pepe reports via tweet that “The Big Dog” will become a licensed judge in New Jersey. Obviously, the immediate reaction to this story is, “Hey, that’s great.” It’s good to see Almeida appearing to make a seamless transition to the next phase (one that baffles so many professional athletes) and it’s nice that he’s looking for ways to stay involved in the sport after hanging up his gloves. Since MMA is still, ahem, technically illegal in the state where Almeida resides, it’s also super cool and neighborly of Jersey to give him a chance. The Dirty Jerz has always fancied itself a forward-thinking athletic commission, so this is a good fit for it as well.

Let us say right off that we have no problem with Almeida the specific man/fighter becoming a judge. He’s always seemed like an agreeable sort and we have no doubt he’ll do a great job. But after the initial warm and fuzzies of this particular story wore off, we were left with some questions. Lots of questions, actually. For starters: Is having newly retired fighters become ringside officials really such a hot idea? Doesn’t it sort of set the stage for some clear cut conflicts of interest?

Pretty weird, right? Ever weirder, Davies specifically goes after Yahoo’s Steve Cofield (an unassuming dude if there ever was one) for daring to quote Nate Marquardt calling out Bisping after his own win last weekend at UFC 128 without – and this is where the logic gets really shaky – providing “balance” by somehow working in Marquardt’s positive steroid test from 2005 and also mentioning the allegations that he turned down a fight with Bisping at UFC 114 (because his wife was set to have a baby three days before the event). Davies rhetorically shouts: “Can there be any doubt at all there is a (sic) acutely American media bias towards Bisping?”

Actually no, there’s no denying it. Better question: Can there be any doubt that he deserves it?

Even if you can’t make your way out to Toronto for the UFC Fan Expo, you can still be part of the “Free CagePotato” movement. For the next month or so, we’re going to be giving away a bunch of the brand-new tees you see above. If you want one, there are a couple of ways to do it…

1. The Twitter Way: Send a tweet of support to @danawhite that includes the hashtag #freecagepotato. (The message must be a positive one. No verbal abuse, please.) Every weekday, we’ll pick our favorite one and hook that person up with a shirt.

2. The Facebook Way: Take a picture of yourself posing with “Free CagePotato” written on a hand-made sign (kind of like the one after the jump) or on your own body (keep it clean, people). Then, upload it to our Facebook wall. We’ll collect our favorites at some point in the future, post them on the site, and award them all t-shirts.

(“Us Californians have a pretty chill attitude about the law of gravity, brah.” Photo courtesy of MMAFighting)

Jon Jones will be defending his new belt against former teammate Rashad Evans, Urijah Faber will be rematching Dominick Cruz in another title fight (this time at bantamweight), and we probably won’t be seeing Mirko Cro Cop around these parts again. But what’s in store for the other winners and losers from UFC 128‘s main card? Allow us to offer a few suggestions…

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua: The obvious matchup is Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Rampage is fighting Matt Hamill at UFC 130 in May, but I think Shogun vs. Rampage 2 is worth booking for this fall no matter what happens in the Hamill fight. Rua and Jackson’s history in PRIDE creates an easy-to-promote storyline, and to be honest, Shogun could probably use a few more months to get in shape. Not to take anything away from Jon Jones’s brilliant performance on Saturday night, but Shogun looked like he usually does when coming back from knee surgery — a little soft, and with questionable conditioning.

Eddie Wineland: With Miguel Torres also booked at UFC 130, the only other option that makes sense is former bantamweight title contender Joseph Benavidez, who deserves a higher-profile fight after being buried in a dark match against Ian Loveland this weekend. I’ll even go one step further and suggest the event where this match should take place: UFC on Versus 4, main card.

If you believe Jon Jones’ personal Twitter feed, it sounds like he, Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn chased down and subdued a criminal crackhead this afternoon after they witnessed said crackhead stealing a GPS navigation system out of some lady’s car. That’s Jersey for you. Seriously though, can you even imagine the poor, unlucky-ass vagrant who’s just out for his Saturday afternoon smash-and-grab when he suddenly finds himself involved in a foot pursuit with this fucking guy? That’s one race you are not going to win, son. Yahoo’s Steve Cofield has the story, though to get the gist you really only have to read the following two sentences, which sound like they came out of a goddamned Joseph Wambaugh novel or some shit: “In the scuffle, the robber was bloodied. The trainers said some blood got on their pants.” Pure Poetry, Cofield, for real.

Now, if Jones manages to follow up his citizen’s arrest by winning the UFC light heavyweight title tonight against Shogun Rua at UFC 128? That’ll make for a pretty epic day, man. Speaking of epic, our live blog of the PPV event kicks off at 10 p.m. EST. Prior to that, we’ll probably shoot you some short recaps of the SpikeTV prelims, too, if we feel like it. Don’t be afraid to hit refresh early and often. You won’t want to miss this …

No matter who you’re rooting for at UFC 128, you’re all but guaranteed an exciting night of fights that have the potential to launch some careers and end others. Luckily for lazy writers everywhere, many of the bouts line up perfectly with tried and true analysis that’s been written a hundred times before. Here’s a half-hearted breakdown of tonight’s action, joined by your blisteringly accurate predictions in the comments section.

The UFC 128 weigh-ins just went down at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and all 24 fighters hit their marks without incident. Seriously, there wasn’t even any shoving or uncomfortable nose-mashing. Oh well. Full results continue after the jump. Don’t forget to come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow night for our liveblog of the action!

Anyway, you know what you came here for. As always, the odds for this week’s event come to us from Sportsbook.com and our picks are presented for entertainment purposes only. Also, for the purposes of WINNING MAJOR WADS OF CASH! What! … yeah … ahem … you’ll have to excuse us, we’re pretty jacked about this one. After the jump find our foolproof scheme for checking major bank at UFC 128, all without leaving your couch.